TRIGKEY Key-N150 Mini PC, Intel Twin Lake N150(4C/4T, up to 3.60GHz) Mini Computer, 16G DDR4 500G M.2 PCIeX4 SSD Business Mini PC Built-in Power Supply/Dual HDMI/1000M LAN*2/WiFi 5/BT 5.0/USB 3.2 * 3

So in 2024 I finally discovered NUCs, or Next Units of Computing. These things are LOVELY. A whole tower that fits in the palm of your hand, and just as much power (or more in a lot of cases) than the towers and laptops you buy off the shelf. I got mine for the purpose of a dedicated media server for my Plex Server. Now I can game without worrying about bandwidth issues because someone is watching something on my Plex. I decided to run Ubuntu on it (comes with Windows 11 Home) and man is this a fast little thing. I haven't put it into service yet (getting ready to move) but I spent the time setting it up and getting it ready. During setup, it was like a hot knife through warm butter. These NUCs have made computing affordable, and simple, but have enough power to be able to do some amazing things. Honestly, I've been racking my brain to see if I can come up with a reason to put one of these in each of the rooms of my new place. Maybe get some touchscreen monitors and build a network around the NUCs so that I always have access to my calendar, an AI Assistant, intercom across the place... There's endless opportunity here!To be fair, this is the second one that I've purchased. I purchased one for a church to use as a simple streaming system for sermons. The setup on that one (different brand) was just as smooth. Both have been from the not-so-name brand companies like Lenovo, Dell, HP, Asus, Acer, etc... My biggest fear was, are these lesser-known companies lesser known for a reason? Yes, marketing budgets. These are no different from something I'd get from the large companies, so I'm satisfied, and I like that the prices beat these big names, especially for the quality that beats the big names too.

This mini-PC is being used as a network router running pfSense. The built-in dual 2.5G ports allow for it to be used in this role without any hardware changes/updates. The cable modem has a 2.5G port and the connection between them was automatically established at that speed. My local network switch is only capable of 1G and that connection is running at 1G.Looking through the BIOS, it identified the storage device as a NVMe drive of unknown brand (at least to me). I assume it is a generic Chinese brand and replaced it with an old 120GB Crucial NVMe drive I had. Installing and configuring pfSense went smoothly, and it has been up and running for about two-months without any hiccups.The one negative I have with it is that I wasn't able to find the BIOS setting where I can configure it to restart automatically after a power failure. As of now it stays powered off after a power interruption until the power button is pressed manually. I have it on a UPS which should be fine for a short power outage, but may be a problem for a longer outage while I am away from home.This may not be a problem for most who simply use it as a PC, but would be nice if that option was available. Otherwise it has exceeded my expectations

I recently purchased the G4 N100, and it's an absolute powerhouse. It came preinstalled with Windows 11, but since I intended to use it as a dedicated media server, I decided to switch to Ubuntu. However, this process turned out to be more complicated than I anticipated.Firstly, the computer doesn't recognize regular installation media, the kind you'd typically use according to standard tutorials. After navigating their somewhat poorly translated support site, I discovered that they recommend using a proprietary tool to create the installation media that's very picky about the USBs it will recognize and work with. I had to go through three different USB sticks before I found one that the tool liked. They also provide links to private repositories hosting specific versions and images of various operating systems. I ended up using my own image through their recommended tool without any issues, but it's certainly worth noting for those considering a similar switch.One surprising aspect not mentioned in the product listing is that this mini computer comes with active cooling. In this price range, many similar devices are passively cooled, and the product description didn't provide any insight into their cooling solution. It turns out there's a fan, and it's an incredibly quiet one. You only notice it when there's absolute silence around, making it a subtle addition to the overall experience.Despite the unexpected twists during the OS transition and the unique cooling solution, this tiny computer has proven to be a solid choice for my media server needs. The active cooling, although not explicitly mentioned, works efficiently and discreetly, and the proprietary tool, once understood, gets the job done for OS installation. It's a powerful device with some nuances to be aware of, making it a worthwhile investment for those who seek a compact yet capable computing solution.

I was in search of a device capable of functioning as a media server, with the lowest possible idle power consumption. At first, I considered the Raspberry Pi 5, but when I added up the costs of everything you need to get it to work, it ended up being more expensive than this. Additionally this is x86-based which has far better support in terms of operating systems, drivers, etc. You can spec this with more RAM or a bigger SSD, or more HDMI ports, etc... It's also significantly faster than the Pi under peak workloads.Don't get me wrong. I think Raspberry Pis are great, particularly the Pi 3/4/Zero models. They are very inexpensive devices that can do light-duty tasks in an energy efficient manner. But the Pi 5 is trying to be an ARM version of this, and while some may find that useful, I'll bet that 90% of those considering a Pi 5 would be better served by this.

You can add a 32gb DDR4 RAM even it says up to 16gb. Even Intel product says the N150 chipset max ram is 16gb.